DEA and IRS agents raided three San Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries on 22 June 2005, part of a two-year investigation dubbed Operation Urban Harvest.[1][2] The dispensaries were the Alternative Relief Co-Op and the Herbal Relief Center on Ocean Avenue and the Sunset Medicinal Resource Center on Judah Street; 23 more residences, businesses and growing sites across the city were searched the same day.[1][2]
Agents hauled away more than 9,000 marijuana plants in the day’s searches; over the whole investigation they seized 18,000 plants with an estimated wholesale value of $17 million, which officials called the largest federal case ever involving dispensaries.[2] Fifteen people were arrested on the day, and 21 people were ultimately charged with conspiring to grow and traffic marijuana, distribute Ecstasy and launder money.[1][2]
A front, prosecutors said
In unsealed court documents, prosecutors accused 33-year-old San Francisco man Vince Ming Wan of leading a multimillion-dollar trafficking operation that used the three clubs as a front, funnelling proceeds through 40 bank accounts at 12 institutions, with some cannabis grown in Canada and money trails running to Asia.[2] An arrest warrant issued for Wan on charges of conspiring to distribute more than 1,000 plants remained unexecuted the next day, with seven other suspects also still at large.[2] Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office said the raids showed the need to protect legitimate medicinal use, while patient advocates warned dispensary users could be driven to the black market.[3]
